Red Seas Under Red Skies Read Along – Week 4

What an exciting week this has been. Love that cliffhanger ending we’re left with and I look forward to see what everyone think is going to happen. This week’s questions were supplied by nrlymrtl at Dark Cargo.

1. I was much relieved when Jean and Locke made up, which started with Locke’s gesture of a cup full of honesty with Cpt. Drakasha. Do you think that was hard for Locke? Or was he using this bit of honesty like any other weapon in his arsenal to get what he wants in the end?
We all know how good Locke is at reading and calculating people. I think he weighed all the possible actions and found out that being honest with Captain Drakasha is the only way to keep them both alive in the long run.

I was surprised Locke was honest to the Archon as well and told him everything that happened at Port Prodigal. I wonder if Locke’s plan will work out in the end.

2. The Parlor Passage: We still don’t know Locke’s true name, but whatever was in that mist does. What do you think it is?
This is a hard one but whatever it is, it obviously doesn’t want to be found. It must have some serious mojo to cast such a big spell around itself.

3. There was an interesting section of the book that started about where Locke assisted Drakasha in selling the Red Messenger; he put on the persona of Leocanto Kosta and used the alias Tavras Callas and then Drakasha was still thinking of him as Ravelle….. Did using all those various aliases in such a short amount of time have your mind spinning a little? Do you think Lynch did this on purpose to give the reader a sense of Locke’s mind?
The wonderful about Locke is that he can be a completely different person but essentially the same person and this is what makes him interesting to read. I don’t find it confusing as these personae are quite distinct. I really like how Locke can slip into another personality just like he did when he faced the Redeemers.

4. That was a sweet little kiss between Cpt. Zamira and Cpt. Jaffrim at the end of the Captains’ Council. Do you think they have some history, or is it just innocent flirting that’s been going on for some time?
I’m sure there is some history between the two. Maybe they used to sail on the same boat before they both became captains.

5. Jean and Ezri. Cue dove-cooing and little winged hearts with sparkles. Do you think Jean will stay with the Poison Orchid or that Ezri will leave her ship to pal around with Jean and Locke?
Ezri has spent most of her time at sea and I think it will be harder for her to adjust to a life on land. Jean being the gentleman that he is, I’m sure he will side with Ezri even though if it means abandoning Locke. However I still think something will happen to prevent Jean from ever making that decision.

6. What is Utgar up to? What are his motivations?
Utgar wants to move up to the biggest and baddest ship in the Sea of Brass. I wouldn’t blame him for what he’s doing, it’s just how life is like for pirates. I wonder if it’s only simply spying that he has been charged to do or something more.

7. So last week we hashed over that Merrain killed some of Stragos’s guards on Windward Rock. But when Jean and Locke visit him, he doesn’t mention it. What is up with that?
I think Stragos still has those deaths at the back of his mind but he doesn’t want to bring them up yet until Locke and Jean has succeeded in their task. I’m sure he will make them pay for it soon enough.

8. This week’s section left us where the book began – Jean pointing a crossbow at Locke’s throat. Do you think Jean knows who sent these crossbowers? Is he on their side? Is it a clever ploy to get him and Locke out of this predicament? Did you find it excruciatingly hard to stop here?
Yes this was a very bad place to stop. I think this is a ploy but I really have no idea who the employer is and what is going to happen. Currently there are so many things happening and not that many page left, will this book have a satisfying ending for the duo? I really can’t wait to see how this book will end.

It’s so hard to only read one part a week. On one hand I want to know how it ends but at the same time like you I don’t want it to end. Hopefully we’re only months away from the release of Republic of Thieves.

I completely agree with your answer to question 1. I believe Locke weighed it carefully and decided honestly was the best course of action (of course, it wasn’t complete honesty).
I thought the same thing about Lies – how is everything going to get resolved in the rather small amount of pages left, but it did, so I have hopes it will happen again.
I just hope with less casualties…

Locke definitely had to tell the Archon something though to explain the fact that Caldris is dead and the Red Messenger has been sold. I still suspect that Caldris’ sudden death came from a lack of a certain antidote and that the Archon or Merrain was behind it.

Sometimes I wish Jean wasn’t such a gentleman. Because of course he would stay with Ezri on the ship if that’s what she wanted, and Locke would never ever go for something like that, forcing Jean and Locke to go their separate ways. And Jean would never be so pushy as to try to convince Ezri to pal around with them on land and become a lady bastard.

the assassins all over Tal Verrar who keep incompetently attacking Locke and Jean – I wonder, are they working for Merrain? she is such a mystery, who the heck is she working for?